Melbourne’s busiest rail lines, Cranbourne and Pakenham, use the level crossings that cross some of the most heavily congested roads in the region. Boom gates at the crossings can be down for up to 82 minutes in total during peak travel times.

Removing the level crossings and creating an elevated rail line will improve community and commuter safety around the crossings themselves, but also enhance the liveability of our communities and reduce travel times for road and rail users. They will also improve traffic flow and reduce congestion on surrounding roads. The Alliance’s design significantly improves community connectivity and will be returning unused space to the community as green spaces and parkland.

Aurecon will deliver the Caulfield to Dandenong package as part of an Alliance with CPB Contractors, Lendlease, WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, LXRA and Metro Trains Melbourne (MTM). Along with WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff, Aurecon are the Principal Engineer Designers across all disciplines, including rail systems (track, overhead wiring, signalling, services routes, power and substations), civil structures (viaduct and retaining walls), station building structures and roads and linear parks.

The project will remove nine level crossings between Caulfield and Dandenong in Melbourne’s south-eastern suburbs and see five railway stations rebuilt at Carnegie, Murrumbeena, Hughesdale, Clayton and Noble Park. It will provide signalling and power system upgrades between Flinders Street Station and Pakenham Station to enhance rail network capacity and reliability.

Using digital to enhance collaboration

A digital team was appointed by Aurecon to help ensure all project teams were collaboratively working across live models with the most up to date information. The digital team helped ensure that everything from modelled finished surface levels to modelled drainage, equipment and pits were easily accessible, and exportable.

Learn more about how Aurecon and Alliance partners embraced digital engineering in the case study below: